Raheem Sterling joins Manchester City: The five most expensive English players of all time

Raheem Sterling joins Manchester City: The five most expensive English players of all timeIBTimes UK

Raheem Sterling broke the English transfer record when he signed for Manchester City from Liverpool for £49m ($76.4m). The 20-year-old winger is just one of many English players the world's biggest clubs have splashed the cash on in recent seasons. IBTimes UK looks back at the five most expensive English football players of all time.

5 - Wayne Rooney (2004)

Wayne Rooney will hope Manchester United challenge for the Premier League next season(IBTimes UK/Reuters)

When 18-year-old Wayne Rooney left boyhood club Everton for Alex Ferguson's Manchester United for £27m, it was the most ever paid for a teenager. However, It was a move that was soon vindicated.

Rooney scored a hat-trick on his debut against Fenerbahce and never looked back, scoring 170 goals in 340 appearances to currently be the club's third-highest goalscorer of all time.

Now club captain, since joining the team United have won the Premier League five times and triumphed in the 2008 Champions League final.

4 - Luke Shaw (2014)

Luke Shaw is looking to cement his place in Manchester United's backline(IBTimes UK/Reuters)

The big English signing of the 2014 summer, Shaw endured a frustrating first season since joining Manchester United from Southampton.

The 20-year-old suffered a hamstring injury in pre-season training that put him out of the side for the first month and he would go on to be both criticised and praised by manager Louis van Gaal for his attitude in training.

The 2014-15 season saw Shaw in and out of the first team, notching 16 appearances as he struggled to secure a place from United's other left-back, Daley Blind.

3 - Rio Ferdinand (2002)

Rio Ferdinand has retired after a fruitful career(IBTimes UK/Reuters)

When Rio Ferdinand rocked up at Old Trafford in the summer of 2002, the £30m fee paid to Leeds was not just a British transfer record, but made Ferdinand the most expensive defender in the world.

Despite an eight-month ban following a missed drugs test in 2003, the Londoner would go on to become a stalwart of both Manchester United and England's defence over the next decade.

During that time, Ferdinand won six Premier League titles and captained the Red Devils in their 2008 Champions League final victory over Chelsea.

2 - Andy Carroll (2011)

Andy Carroll will hope to be injury-free for the coming season(IBTimes UK/Reuters)

Carroll previously held the record of most expensive English footballer ever after he signed for Liverpool from Newcastle for £35m in January 2011.

The Reds had just made a significant sum from the £50m departure of star striker Fernando Torres to Chelsea and immediately invested £35m in Carroll and £22.8m in another striker by the name of Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan proved a more sound investment, as Suarez would go on to score 69 goals in 110 appearances for the club, including winning the 2013-14 Premier League player of the season award, before leaving to play for Barcelona in 2014.

Carroll, on the other hand, now plies his trade for West Ham United after mustering only six goals in 44 appearances during his his injury-laden spell at Anfield.

1 - Raheem Sterling (2015)

Raheem Sterling will want to make an instant impact at new club Manchester City(IBTimes UK/Reuters)

Sterling smashed the English transfer record when he was signed by Manchester City from Liverpool for £49m. Recently ranked by Soccerex as the most valuable young player in Europe, the London-born winger had become a mainstay of Brendan Rodgers's Liverpool side over the last two seasons.

But Sterling's 2014-15 campaign was overshadow by speculation regarding his future at the club. Liverpool's owners insisted he would not be sold this summer but after two bids for the player were rejected, the Citizens finally got their man following a successful third offer.